


Painted Flowers

by Yiffandquiff (princesslexi763)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: AU, Fic Fest, First Kiss, First Love, Implied First Time, Love, M/M, Soulmate AU, phandom fic fest, valentines day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-17 22:05:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13668222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princesslexi763/pseuds/Yiffandquiff
Summary: Flowers come in many shapes and sizes. Colors and types. But to Dan, they mean so much. From the young age of five, flowers begin to show up on his skin, and slowly as he ages, every Valentine’s Day, another flower paints over his flesh. They continue to grow into a beautiful garden until one day he meets Phil. And like the tale tells, once you meet your soulmate, a flower will no longer bloom on your skin every Valentine’s Day.





	Painted Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> 1.7k Words of fluff, acceptance, and love 
> 
> Written for the Phandom Fic Fest’s Valentine’s Day Event
> 
> Beta: @phantropolis on Tumblr who thankfully was able to edit this quickly just a few days ago! And thanks so much Claire ( @phloridas ) on Tumblr who came through and quickly did a last round of beta’ing for this work! Thank you both so much!

When the first blue rose blossomed across Dan’s hand at the age of five, he didn’t know what to do. The pretty petals were mesmerizing but _why did he have this strange flower painted on his skin_?  

He went up to his teacher, Mrs. Roberts, and asked her why this flower had shown up on his skin . She smiled at him, rubbing the mark with her hand in a soft, comforting way. “It’s Valentine’s Day dear, everyone gets a new flower on Valentine’s Day.”

But Dan still didn’t understand that.

He didn’t understand the significance of the flowers and he didn’t understand why Valentine’s Day was causing one to grow on his hand.

When he went home that day, he asked his mother about his hand. And that night, she placed her arm under warm water and washed away a layer of clay colored drips to reveal baby’s breaths, roses, and lilies, all deeply colored red, lining her arms to her shoulder blades. When Dan asked what they meant, she sat him down and smiled.

“Every year after you turn five years old, you receive a new flower that grows on your skin. You’ll get roses, and tulips, and hydrangeas, and orchids. The only time they will stop growing is when you find your soulmate. But until that day, a new flower will blossom every Valentine’s Day.”

“When will I find my soulmate?” Dan asked trepidly.

“When you’re older, sweetie.”

* * *

Now Dan was seventeen, and his arm was a garden. The flowers were beginning to spread along his collarbones, creep up his jaw, and bloom onto his cheek. They were blue flowers, all a  particularly soft blue that Dan thought he would never care to like, given the unfamiliar color. With Valentine’s Day a few weeks away, he was expecting another rose to bloom on his cheek next to the others that were already there.

He was sat on the lawn during his study period, outside of the school under the willow tree in their courtyard. Lots of other students were there too, bustling about and joking with each other. But Dan didn’t pay them much mind. He just kept his focus down at his journal where he was drawing his own flowers on the cream colored paper.

He heard footsteps at his side , and when he looked up so his eyes could follow the sound, he found a tall raven haired male standing before him, his eyes the same color as the flowers painted on Dan’s skin.

“Do you mind if I sit with you? You look a bit lonely.” The male said to Dan.

Dan shrugged. “I won’t make good company.”

“I don’t believe that.”

A smile pricked at Dan’s lips from the quick wit and response of this stranger. He found himself wanting to look up and stare at him but at the same time wanting to blush and look away. He continued with his drawings, ignoring the male until he began to speak again.

“I’m Phil.”

Dan lifted his head and finally faced Phil eye to eye. “I’m Dan.”

“Your flowers are beautiful.” Phil said, no hesitation in his voice.

“Thanks.” Dan spoke, his voice quiet and timid. He eyed Phil up and down, trying to see if he could find where his own flowers were, as they were hidden from view. “If you don’t mind me asking, but where are your flowers?”

Phil smirked at Dan. “Hidden from the world.”

“Why?”

Phil leaned over and brushed a stray curl from Dan’s cheek, the touch leaving Dan feel electrified, like sparks had flown out into the air. “Because they start on my thigh and go up my side to my chest.”

“Strange placement, isn’t it?”

“Everything about me is odd.”

Dan smirked at Phil.

“Me too.”

* * *

Following his first encounter with Phil, Dan kept seeing him every place he went in school. Phil was  the same class as him but Dan had never noticed before. But now that he’s seeing the gorgeous male everywhere, he wonders why he never had before.

They begin meeting up more and more under the willow tree in the courtyard. Sometimes Dan will just draw while Phil eats a snack or sometimes Phil will talk and Dan will just listen and not say a word. But between them both, this dynamic was working well and Dan was beginning to take a liking to Phil in more than a platonic way.

On one particular day in the crisp autumn weather, he was sat under the same tree in the same spot he always had. The wind was blowing and he was shivering slightly, cursing himself for not wearing a warmer jacket. But as soon as he thought about getting up and admitting defeat, he saw Phil walking towards him, a large plaid blanket in his hand.

“You looked cold from the window.”

Dan shrugged. “It’s not that cold.”

“You’re shivering.” Phil took a seat next to him and laid the blanket over them, the warmth automatically engulfing Dan, making his body relax.

“Thank you.”

Phil turned to him and flashed him a quick smirk before suddenly staring at him, his blue eyes breaking into Dan’s brown. He was leaning forward, and at first Dan couldn’t pick up why. But then Phil’s lips were touching his own, barely there but also so strong. Dan closed his eyes and reciprocated the kiss, letting himself get caught up in it.

But the kiss didn’t last long and soon, Phil was pulling away, his face flushed. Dan knew he was blushing as well.

“Did you mind that I kissed you?” Phil asked.

Dan shook his head. “No.”

“Would you mind if I do it again?”

Dan shook his head.

Phil leaned in once more and connected their lips again, the sparks begin to fly and their lips mould perfectly together.

Dan knows from that moment on that he’s found his soulmate.

And on Valentine’s Day, just a few days later, he was relieved to not find another flower growing on his flesh, for the stem was completed and his flowers will no longer grow.

On Valentine’s Day night, Dan invited Phil over to his home for the first time since they began to see each other. He had nothing planned and nothing in mind, but a quick trip up to his bedroom spoke differently.

The first kiss was innocent, just a quick peck. But when the kiss took a turn, it was suddenly full of heat and passion like Dan had never felt before. His entire body ached for it, the flowers on his skin tingling with desire. He was sure if he looked in a mirror, they’d be glowing, brightly contrasted over his porcelain skin.

Dan found himself on his back, Phil over top of him, his hands pressing gently under Dan’s shirt, over his taut tummy up to his chest. His touches were sending electricity through Dan’s nerves, the shock making him whimper and mewl.

“Do you want to do anything?” Phil asked as he broke away from the kiss, his voice breathless as he fought for air that he had been denied those past few moments.

“I want everything with you.” Dan said. “I have never felt such emotion for someone before and I want to experience everything with you Phil. You’re my soulmate. My flowers didn’t grow today.”

Phil smiled at Dan, sitting back and removing his shirt, revealing a perfect path of woven stems on his side, snaking out of his jeans, a perfect shade of green against his fair skin. “Mine didn’t either.”

Dan smiled back at him, reaching up and wrapping his arms tightly around Phil’s neck as he brought him back down to him, pressing a lust filled kiss to his lips.

Tonight was the start of their beginning, their forever. Later as Dan moaned out, his back arching and his hands gripping his sheets with white knuckles, he could feel the pleasure exploding through his body. He knew he’d never feel like this with anyone else.  

And as he drifted off to sleep, he heard a simple phrase.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, my love.”

* * *

Five years later, Dan is sat on the floor of their apartment. It’s Valentine’s Day, and he’s observing his body in the mirror. Five years hasn’t been too kind to him, new medications and other health issues led his weight to fluctuate. His flowers are slightly askew, some of them even fading like an old tattoo.

But that doesn’t matter to him.

Not when he has Phil sitting behind him, naked as well as he looks at his fiance’s body in their mirror. He has his arms wrapped around Dan, his body pressed flush against Dan’s as Dan fights back tears of insecurity that hit him every once in a while.

“It’s so weird to think that five years later, I’m still not used to not seeing a new flower or stem.” Dan spoke, his voice soft.

Phil squeezed at Dan’s abdomen, lightly rubbing his belly in circles with his palm. “Your flowers are beautiful as they are, love.”

As Dan looked straight ahead, seeing the tattoo on Phil’s shoulder that perfectly mimicked his own flower design, he smiled. At five years old, Dan could have never comprehended that at the young age of seventeen, his flowers would stop growing forever. He never could have dreamt that on Valentine’s Day just a year after they began to date that Phil would propose. And Dan certainly never could have predicted how four years later, they would still not  have a wedding date set but that was okay with him.

No longer would he wake up on Valentine’s Day, head off to school, and come home later that day to find a new stem growing from the last. No longer would he look in the mirror, and see the new flower that had suddenly bloomed on his flesh. No longer would he look at all of the others, and wonder when his own flowers would stop growing.

He reached his hand down and placed it gently over Phil’s, stilling it.

“I love you.” Dan didn’t speak the phrase often but when he did, he made sure he meant it. He saved ‘I love you’s’ for intimate moments because he was afraid of over-using it. But today, he wanted to use it over and over again.

Phil smiled, and gently leaned down to kiss the skin of his neck, the side that glittered with blue stems. “Happy Valentine’s Day, love.” He paused to nip at the skin. “I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are appreciated! Thanks!


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